Wednesday, 18 May 2016

Review | The One We Fell In Love With ~ Paige Toon

Phoebe is caught between a rock and a hard place. Settle down and get married, or return to the French Alps to pursue her passion?

Eliza is in love with someone who is no longer hers. In fact, he probably never was… And her dream of becoming a successful musician seems to be vanishing before her eyes.

Rose is out of a job and out of a boyfriend. To make matters worse, she’s been forced to move back in with her mother…

But these very different girls have one thing in common. Angus.

The one they fell in love with…

Almost two years ago, I was introduced to Paige Toon with her novel Thirteen Weddings. I devoured that book in one sitting and firmly categorised Paige as a favourite author.

It was my mission to purchase and read her back catelogue and then I started to read and review books for my blog, and whilst I now have the previous books, my TBR is forever growing and I've get to get around to it - but I will!

I was very lucky to obtain an early copy of The One We Fell In Love With, which is Paige's 10th novel, when I attended the Spring Blogger Event back in March - thank you once again to SJV.

During the event, Paige did a reading from the book so opening the pages I had already been introduced to Phoebe, Rose and Eliza, albeit briefly and I was excited to read more of their story.

The three girls are identical triplets.

They all have the same blonde hair and green eyes.

The same body shape.

The same make up if you like.

Yet they tell you themselves at the very beginning that personality wise, they couldn't be more different.

Cue Angus - their new next door neighbour.

The one similarity all three girls have is that Angus is The One they all fall for.

Okay, I know this might sound a tad predictable. A typical love story if you will.

But the more I read, the more I was captivated within Paige's writing and the more I realised this was far from the usual romance novel.

This was a story that I did not see unfolding and now having finished it, I can see just how poignant the title is too.

Each of the chapters were told from the prospective of one of the girls, and memories are shared giving us a great insight to their upbringing, different characteristics and of course, informing us how they met Angus and the effect he had on them individually. Their individual chapters moved the story on to where they go from now in a very unique way.

I loved all three characters, but felt particularly pulled in Rose's direction. Whilst Phoebe told of her love of climbing and taking risks, and Eliza shared her passion for music and singing, Rose I was at a bit of a dead end and therefore I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her progress over the course of the book. Ultimately towards the end it was more about Rose that the other two sisters, and I would just love to know what happens next between her and Toby.

Toby, alongside Angus, is really the only other character in the book. When Rose is out of a job, she starts working alongside Toby at his families bakery. He was a fun role and really brought out a different side to Rose.

Angus then.

It's very clear that he has an important role to play in each of the triplet's lives and it's also clear that he loves all three very much and the twists and turns along the way with each of the girls and him just shows how many different ways you can love someone and made the book enjoyable to read.

Paige Toon has a wonderful way of writing and story telling. The locations were so descriptive at times that I found myself looking up area's of The Alps that were mentioned as I was reading which just enforced the setting in my mind even more.

I loved Paige's way of telling the story from three angles too - it was very cleverly done and although as mentioned I've yet to read them all, I feel that this story is one of her best and will have readers hooked right from page one.

The One We Fell In Love With is one of those books that not only captivates you, but has you turning the pages before you've finished reading the first one, and made me feel a whole host of emotions - I smiled, I laughed, I cried.

It broke my heart several times but also mended it is such uplifting and warming ways.

Of course, this book wouldn't be a true Paige Toon book if it didn't have references to Australia or mention a character or two from a previous novel - I always have a slight 'coming home' feeling and find myself smiling when a character from the past pops up and it's always fun looking out for the character links and cameos!